In the left photo, architect Matt Berman (standing), husband Jim Mumma and their son, Owen, soak up the sun at the summer retreat they renovated themselves. Berman, pictured again in the living room, is a principal at Workshop/APD in New York City. He explains how he saved funds right in his backyard. "Many pools I design for clients are made of a high-end finish called gunite, but we achieved a similar look by using a black vinyl liner; with the water in the pool it looks a nice greenish-gray," Berman says. "I would've liked to use bluestone pavers everywhere, but they're expensive, so for the larger pavers we tinted concrete to look like bluestone; the smaller ones are from Home Depot."Brett Beyer

When architect Matt Berman, 44, and teacher Jim Mumma, 50, went house hunting in the Jersey Shore’s Asbury Park 14 years ago, it was a far cry from the vibrant beach community it is today.

“Everything was boarded up, nobody was on the beach, and the boardwalk was derelict,” recalls Berman, a principal with the NYC firm Workshop/APD. “But we thought the area was cool — and frankly, it was affordable.”

Berman and his then-boyfriend (now-husband) Mumma toured a plethora of fixer-uppers before spotting what Berman calls a “pared-down beach-town Victorian,” complete with a guest cottage and just a few blocks from the shore.

At 1,800 square feet and $250,000, it was larger and more expensive than they’d envisioned. It was also in disastrous shape — originally built in 1910, the home had been split into two apartments.

But the couple saw potential. “It had great bones, a wraparound porch, and was on a nice, deep lot,” Berman tells Alexa.

They decided to snap it up, driving from their Hell’s Kitchen apartment to Asbury Park each weekend to work on the grueling renovation. “It became our first child,” jokes Berman.

While he had designed residential and commercial projects across the country (his firm was even chosen by a committee helmed by Brad Pitt to design affordable housing in New Orleans), and while the couple had tackled small DIY projects, neither had faced anything as daunting as this.

The couple put skylights in the dining room “because the room faces south, so we get some unbelievable light changes during the day; the way the light hits the wood wall creates a very dramatic feature. Years ago, we hiked the Inca trail, and this photograph by Erik Chmil reminded us of it.” The wooden divider between the dining area and the kitchen was purposeful and custom-built. “We took the wood flooring up the wall — it’s an unexpected material to use on that surface, it creates character, and it’s inexpensive,” Berman says.Brett Beyer

They gutted the house down to the sub-floor, then framed walls, cut tiles, even handled some wiring. They joke that they made “20-plus trips to Home Depot” most days, sleeping on an AeroBed in the middle of the construction site.

It took two years to finish the living room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms on the first and second floors.

They took a few more years to recover before renovating the attic into a dramatic master suite — ripping off the roof and adding geometric dormers and a cupola. Three years ago the couple took one more plunge, adding a backyard pool.

It’s a big hit with their 8-year-old son, Owen. The family now lives in Brooklyn but heads out to the Shore for the summer and most weekends year-round.

And they’re thrilled that their three-bedroom, two-bath home is often packed with guests — they recently hosted a crowd of a dozen for Memorial Day.

Looking back, Berman says, the project “turned out to be more heavy-duty than we thought. We put our blood, sweat and tears into it, but it brought us a lot closer together. We ultimately enjoyed the process, and love how it turned out.”

In the master bedroom, Berman notes they modified the roof line, "adding dormers and a cupola to provide as much light and headroom as possible without actually raising the roof. We picked furniture that was casual and scaled appropriately -- a Thayer Coggin sofa and chair, a Nelson bench, a bed from Blu Dot and custom bookshelves that hold all of our clothes. The Benjamin Moore 'Iron Mountain' wall paint has brown, gray and aubergine tones. The inside of the cupola is painted Benjamin Moore 'Ashwood Gray,' which is really a blue, and when it reflects on the darker color it creates a really interesting effect."

Brett Beyer

Berman designed this pergola "to create a sense of enclosure on the deck, and to create some shade."

Brett Beyer

Careful thought went into this setup. "The living room is a mix of aesthetics and function: a big, micro-suede covered sofa from Room & Board, since we often have guests, and a vintage cabinet purchased from Horseman Antiques, to hold the stuff that comes along with having a kid," Berman says. "We cut down the legs on the cabinet ... because we didn't want it to be higher than the sofa."
The art also has a backstory. "We fell in love with this photo of a stock-tank pool by Julie Blackmon," Berman says. "We thought it really conveyed the way we want people to feel when they're in our home."

Brett Beyer

In the kitchen, according to Berman, "the counter stools are from FS20, a local vintage store; we had them recovered in cowhide. We wanted the living room to feel refined without being walled in, so we built a room divider to create the separation but still maintain the transparency. We filled it with Blenko glass pieces that Jim bought on eBay."
The cabinetry was specifically chosen, too. "The Luxor cherry cabinets provide storage for every kind of object and appliance -- there's even a toe-kick drawer," Berman says.
Then there are the floors. "Slate is the best material you could ever choose for flooring -- it is indestructible and inexpensive," Berman says. "We've dropped things on it, spilled things on it, and it still looks great."

Brett Beyer

And the outside isn't neglected. "We liked the rustic worn weathered wood finish of the chaise loungers -- it looks great against the tinted concrete -- and they're incredibly comfortable," Berman says.

Brett Beyer

According to Berman, "this would've been a dead corner, but we came up with the idea of adding wine storage -- it has a nice, sculptural quality."